Almost every American child is now taught to call 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency. The 9-1-1-system found its origin in the 1950s, when emergency responders pushed for a nationwide standard emergency phone number, which resulted in the 9-1-1 system. Originally implemented through mechanical call switching, the 9-1-1 number is now used for most types of emergencies, including fire, police, medical, and ambulance.
The 9-1-1 system is implemented using dispatch centers known of public safety answering points (“PSAPs”), sometimes also known as public safety access points. A PSAP is essentially a call center that answers 9-1-1 calls and triages the emergency, directly dispatching appropriate first responders or contacting a dispatch office for the appropriate first responders.
For the PSAP call center to determine the proper first responder for the emergency, the PSAP operator typically must acquire some basic information from the caller. This information includes name, location, and a general description of the emergency. Thus, when a call is placed to 9-1-1, the PSAP operator generally asks the caller for that information. This is because the 9-1-1 system was designed during the landline era, and its technology is based on landline systems. Most modern PSAPs are capable of using call data to determine the origin of 9-1-1 calls placed over a landline.
However, more than 70% of 9-1-1 calls are now placed using mobile phones. Mobile phones can present certain advantages to the 9-1-1 system in that modern smart phones are capable of geolocation through use of a built-in global positioning system (“GPS”) transceiver. However, not all mobile phones transmit location data in connection with a voice call, and not all PSAPs are equipped to receive and use location data. Thus, studies have shown that the chances of a 9-1-1 call center getting a quick and accurate location for the caller ranges widely across the United States, from 10% to 95%.
When a cell phone calls 9-1-1, the PSAP operator receiving the call generally transmits a digital request back to the cell phone asking for location data, but this data is not always sent. Even if it is, the data exchange can take several minutes, and sometimes does not work at all. Thus, although mobile phone applications have direct access to the GPS coordinates through the cell phone operating system, 9-1-1 PSAP operators attempt to get the location using a slow request/relay data exchange that does not work reliably.
Further, 9-1-1 calls from cell phones are not always routed correctly. Each PSAP has a geographic service zone, which often follows political borders such as county lines. Moreover, cell phone calls are usually routed to the nearest tower with the strongest signal. This tower may be in the geographic jurisdiction of a PSAP which does not cover the phone's cell location. Because the tower will route the call to the PSAP in the jurisdiction where the tower is located, calls from phones in a different PSAP jurisdiction can be routed to the wrong PSAP. This can result in further delay and confusion as the PSAP operator attempts to determine where the user is located, but the streets and addresses are not in the PSAP's local database.
Even when location data is available, placing the 9-1-1 is not always possible in the first instance. For example, in the common situation where a person is walking alone at night and confronted by a stranger, getting a phone out to place a 9-1-1 call may only escalate the situation, or result in a stolen or damaged phone.
Attempts to address these problems include using mobile device applications with direct access to geolocation data, but these applications rely on timers and other triggering mechanisms that are impractical in an emergency situation. Such solutions generally trigger an alarm after some amount of time and require the user to frequently “check-in” by entering a personal identification number (“PIN”) to cancel the alarm, but this again requires the user to get the phone out, potentially escalating a dangerous situation. Further, when the PIN is not entered, such applications generally just call 9-1-1, which does not solve the problem of inaccurate or missing location data or improper call routing.